(Columbia, SC) South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster commemorated the formal inauguration of the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance during a ribbon cutting ceremony at the state house on October 31

The Governor was joined by a German delegation that included Dr. Volker Wissing, Minister of Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viniculture Rhineland Palatinate and Dr. Hans Dieter Rombach, Chairman of the Science & Innovation Alliance Kaiserslautern (SIAK). Knudt Flor, President of BMW Manufacturing and Bobby Hitt, Secretary of Commerce also joined Governor McMaster at the podium. Stefanie Ziska, President & CEO of the German American Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta Office moderated.

The event marked a milestone for the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance as it continues to build collaborations on a statewide, national, and international scale.

Announced as an official alliance in May 2019, the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance (Alliance) is a collaborative effort between the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Experimental Software Engineering (CESE) in Maryland. Fraunhofer USA CESE in Maryland works closely with the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (IESE) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Fraunhofer IESE is located in Rhineland-Palatinate, which has been South Carolina’s German sister-state for more than 20 years.

While the Alliance was created to advance applied research in engineering and technology throughout South Carolina with the Fraunhofer USA CESE and in-state research institutions, it also furthers the research and cultural connection with the state’s German counterpart.

To date, there are five projects underway or recently completed under the new SC Fraunhofer USA Alliance. One of the first research projects supported by the Alliance was a collaboration between the University of South Carolina, Fraunhofer USA, and two South Carolina firms – Datos Technologies and G&P Trucking. The project developed a cloud-based platform to offer a variety of services to South Carolina logistics companies using data from Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and external big data systems. The end result was a comprehensive tool for improved competitive advantages through resource optimization and cost reduction.

Other Alliance research projects include a telehealth project with the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Department of Corrections; a recently completed collaborate robotics project between Clemson University and BMW; an internet of things project between Clemson University, Francis Marion University and the Bicycle Corporation of America; and a wire harness automation project between the University of South Carolina and Safran that has recently moved into a new phase of research.

As the South Carolina Fraunhofer USA Alliance continues to grow, the research it supports and the resulting innovation will help raise South Carolina’s national and international profile as a leading provider of industry research and technology.

Original Article

About Fraunhofer USA

Fraunhofer USA, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit charitable organization incorporated in Rhode Island that is dedicated to the advancement of applied research. Fraunhofer USA was founded in 1994 to conduct applied R & D for customers in industry, academia and state and federal government agencies in the United States. Working closely with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest application-oriented research and development organization and its sole corporate member, Fraunhofer USA can offer both domestic and international resources to enhance its portfolio of research and development. For more information, visit https://www.cese.fraunhofer.org/.

For more information go to www.cma.fraunhofer.org
Contact: Dr. Adam Porter
Email: aporter@fraunhofer.org